Biomimicry is a science that studies nature’s models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems. It introduces an era based not on what we can extract from the natural world but on what we can learn from it.

Over billions of years, natural selection has come up with winning strategies adopted by all complex, mature ecosystems. The strategies in the following list are tried-and true approaches to the mystery of surviving in place. Organisms in a mature ecosystem:

Use waste as a resource

Diversify and cooperate to fully use the habitat.

Gather and use energy efficiently

Optimize rather than maximize

Use materials sparingly

Don’t foul their nests

Don’t draw down resources

Remain in balance with the biosphere

Run on information

Shop locally

For too long, we have judged our innovations by whether they are good for us (mostly in a profitable sense) Now we have to put what is good for life first, and trust that it will be good for us. The new questions towards innovation should be the following, answered by ‘yes’.